Rather than recreate/”reenact” any of Blade Runner’s characters, I have decided to create an impression of a humble, street-wise - or would that be street level? - elder LAPD detective. Why? Because I know the score. If you’re not cop…

Here's my concept sketch/starting point:

INTRO/BACKGROUND/THANK YOU

It has only been over the past year that I’ve become interested in prop and costume projects, and even then, I’m really only looking at assembling just a handful of costumes, and largely as justification for acquiring the accessory props. 

While my projects are all being very slowly planned/worked more or less simultaneously, the one that I really would like to wrap first is my Blade Runner universe kit. The film has been in my top ten since seeing it in the theater during its first run, and I’d feel better about having my project done before BR2049 drops…

I’ll start my project thread with a thank you to the PropSummit community. This group has been instrumental in motivating me, and has been beyond informative. My background is in historical reenactment, and the information shared by the community will allow me to feed my need for “authenticity” for my costume “build.”

Last edited by rickhoward on Fri Aug 04, 2017 10:15 am; edited 4 times in total

Very good project...why? Because you're going off the wall with this idea.
We generally try to emulate the main characters in the movie (Cosplay favorites as I call them). Doing a street level character is great for the fact that there's hundred of those in BR and your imagination can run wild inventing others just as interesting as the one you drew.
Eager to see the rest

Starting, at least, from the top down...
I've researched my headgear. There is no shortage of examples; I can only imagine that the costume crew found a stash of baskets in a storage closet somewhere on the studio lot and away they went.

There isn't any strict uniformity in the basket hats - different sizes, shapes, and colors. Different drape materials with varying attachment points. On the pro side, this leaves the door wide open for my hat build.

The basket that I've acquired for my kit should work well. There are no examples (that I've found) that shows the interior rigging/suspension. I'll most likely go with a traditional Japanese treatment for woven hats (atamadai), which should keep it centered on my head and leave the drape as an ornamental element.

There was a conversation in a different group earlier today regarding LAPD I.D. badges, so I shared some images of my WIP I.D.,

Inspired by Tom Southwell's art/commentary as well as Karl Tate's excellent WorldCon photos, the I.D. began as a project to work on during business trips and, on a whim, was built in PowerPoint. I've too much invested in it now, otherwise I'd go back and build it out in Illustrator. As slow as I'm going, someone is likely to get that work done before I do...

There are a number of modifications to be made to get this to the point where I'm ready to encase (because my geekiness knows no bounds) it in my vintage 1980s 3M card laminate:

* I have yet to have my photo taken for this (the local arcade has an old photo booth)
* Deal with the square scan graphic above the photo. This is a bit out of PowerPoint's league so I may do this in Illustrator unless I find something already out there.
* Add the red X - it is just a placeholder on the slide. I'll use rubylith/ amberlith/tail lamp lens tape/equivalent

The fine print on the back is a reversed copy of Mr. Southwell's badge design. I think I may leave it as an homage rather than try to create it from scratch.

I'm also considering creating a new precinct number graphic - I failed to notice earlier that one of the community's members has the 6 as their avatar. Maybe Precinct 5 would work...

The hat was a stumbling block for me. Without something on my head it felt incomplete, but I didn't want to copy Gaff's hats (or Rich's awesome idea) so I tried this. Maybe the hataand the pipe make it look funny? Of the two I'll keep the pipe!